The present disclosure is related to the field of infant care. More specifically, the present disclosure is related to a system for cooling heated components of an incubator between uses.
Prematurely born infants require specialized treatment and care due to their small size and still-developing organs and physiological systems, thus, premature infants are placed in devices that create a carefully controlled microenvironment around the patient. The microenvironment is designed to provide one or more environmental conditions that are advantageous to the neonate beyond the ambient conditions. Infant care stations provide this microenvironment for infant patients under the operation and control of a clinician.
One type of device is generally referred to as an incubator in which the infant patient is placed within a physical enclosure and the temperature within the enclosure is carefully controlled with convective heating provided by a first flow of heated air into the enclosure.
During operation and use of a convective heater, the heater itself and surrounding components of the convective heater and the incubator are heated to temperatures in access of those temperatures desirable for contact with a technician servicing or cleaning the incubator. Thus, prior to service or cleaning, an incubator must be allowed to set with the convective heater off in order to passively cool the components before they are exposed to human contact.